VTB hires ‘global icon’ Jim Rogers as agricultural investment adviser

Russia’s VTB Capital has hired Jim Rogers, an American investor and economist who in 1998 created the Rogers International Commodity Index (RICI), as an adviser to its agricultural division.

Rogers, the 69-year-old author of several books who is based in Singapore and is chairman of Rogers Holdings and Beeland Interests, joined forces with George Soros in the ’70s to set up Quantum Fund, a hedge fund that in 1992 earned Soros a billion dollars overnight and enabled the financier to forcee the Bank of Ebgland to devalue the pound.

“Jim Rogers is a global icon and thought leader in commodity investment trends,” a statement by the investment banking arm of VTB Group, which is intensively tapping agricultural markets for investment opportunities, quoted Tim Demchenko, global head of private equity and special situations, as saying.

Rogers “understands the importance of this region in the global commodity supply dynamic”, Demchenko said.